First look: Renzo Piano's glass-domed motion pictures museum

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week released preliminary plans for its $300 million Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences museum in Los Angeles, designed by Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali.

The scheme involves converting the historic Wiltshire May Company building at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue into a 290,000-sf museum. A massive glass dome will be built on the north side of the building and will house a 1,000-seat theater, according to LA Times' Architecture Critic Christopher Hawthorne.

Located next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) campus, the museum will exhibit the work of Oscar winners and nominees, and, as the Academy puts it, "pull back the curtain on moviemaking and highlight the history and future of the arts and sciences of film."

Here's an overview of the design scheme, courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

Entering the museum from the LACMA Campus

The museum's rooftop terrace

Entering the museum's Premiere Theater

Special events dining room

A glass-enclosed "spine" will move people floor to floor via elevators, escalators, and stairs.

It’s no accident that the word “Highline” is in this project’s name. The goal is for the building to be a kind of gateway into the larger redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood to resemble New York’s City’s trendy downtown Meatpacking District, through which runs a portion the High Line elevated park.

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